To put in perspective the whirlwind that had been the Heat's lineups and rotations these past two Big Three seasons was simply to listen to the first words out of Erik Spoelstra's mouth when he entered the interview area early Friday morning at AmericanAirlines Arena, championship finally secured.

"I'll turn in my game card, lineups in a few minutes," the fourth-year coach said with a smile, an inside joke to those who had been there for the 23 postseason pregame sessions leading up to this championship moment.

Over the course of the 23-game journey, Spoelstra had turned in seven different lineup combinations, permutations that included five starting centers.

Yet over the final four games, on the lineup cards that delivered the franchise's second championship, the names were the same: Bosh, James and Wade, with Chalmers and Shane Battier listed alongside.

It not only was the blueprint for success, but one that easily could carry forward for the championship defense.

Oh, it's still possible that Spoelstra returns to a more traditional approach during the 2012-13 regular season, with the likes of a Joel Anthony at center or perhaps Udonis Haslem at power forward, if only to save the undersized wear on Bosh and Battier. But there no longer is the overwhelming concern that there isn't enough in place.

Because Bosh proved to be more than enough at center, even against the Oklahoma City Thunder's sizeable power rotation, and because Chalmers provided sufficient answers at point guard, even if it meant Wade taking the defensive assignment against Russell Westbrook and James playing the Finals as primary playmaker.

"Our versatility," Spoelstra said, "while it may seem unconventional to some, we think it's one of our greatest strengths."

For a coach who made it work in the postseason with Battier at power forward, who exactly is to argue?

"We have guys that can play different positions, and they're tough minded, and you put them in the right system, we don't view it as a negative," Spoelstra said.

So get used to calling Bosh a center. He apparently already is.

"I kept getting moved around, and I was asked to change quite frequently, but I was with it," he said. "I believed in the coaching staff. I knew that Spo and the coaching staff saw something, saw some way that I could help. After they asked me to move to the five, I didn't fight it."

Just as teammates accept Chalmers for who he is, a combo guard at Kansas who can thrive as a hybrid point guard with the Heat, with James handling much of the playmaking and Wade capable of stepping up defensively against elite point guards.

"It's not easy for most people to come in and whatever role that they're supposed to be in, to not have the role," Wade said. "A lot of times Mario Chalmers don't bring the ball up, and he's the point guard. And then there's other times we depend on him to do it so much, and we want him to make plays for us. I'm sure it's confusing at times. He's out of rhythm a lot.

"But he's a big¿game kind of player."

Ultimately, these past six months delivered the Larry O'Brien trophy to South Florida. But they also provided something ostensibly just as elusive for the Heat these past two seasons: clarity at center and point guard.